1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hooks and lures used in the sport of fishing. In particular, the present invention provides a hook and lure system that keeps a hook retained within a lure until the lure is enveloped within the mouth of a fish at which time the hook deploys, engaging the mouth of the fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the invention of the fish hook and the advent of the artificial lure, novice and professional fisherman alike have faced the dilemma of fish hooks and lures becoming entangled or snagged upon vegetation, reefs, and other natural or manmade objects beneath the water's surface. This occurs since fish, being predators, use obstacles in the water as camouflage when stalking and hunting other fish, thus in an attempt to catch the fish, a fisherman must expose his lure to the objects and vegetation beneath the water's surface. The fisherman is required to navigate his/her lure or hook through such obstacles when attempting to catch a fish. Due to the present design of most lures, the hook is exposed to the vegetation and other objects within the water, thus the incidence of the lure and hook becoming snagged and/or lost is quite high. For over a century, fisherman have tried to develop lures that would be less susceptible to becoming entangled in such underwater obstacles mentioned above.
A popular type of lure dating back to the late 1800's was a lure having a hook concealed within the body thereof. Such a lure would be able to be drawn through weeds and obstacles without becoming entangled therein. These lures were typically hollow having a spring biased, ratcheting mechanism for releasing the hook from the lure when the line to which the lure was attached was tensioned. U.S. Pat. No. 151,394, issued on May 26, 1874 to David Huard and Charles M. Dunbar, discloses trolling fish hooks having a center chamber therein housing a spring biased hook that is released from the lure when the line is tensioned, pulling a catch away from the barb end of the hook, releasing it from an opening located along the bottom portion of the lure.
Lures having spring biased hooks contained within a chamber and exit the lure through a single aperture may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,411,233, issued on Nov. 19, 1968 to James H. Hopper, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,618, issued on Nov. 8, 1988 to Jack D. Rainey, and Canadian Patent 593,798, issued in 1960 to Thomas G. Hodgson et al. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,583, issued on May 3, 1977 to Jennings B. Gatlyn, discloses a snag-proof fishing lure in which the hook that is contained within the lure is in a passageway that extends fully through the lure from top to bottom. Although the rounded part of the hook extends from the lure, the barb of the hook itself does not extend from the lure until the line to which the lure is attached is tensioned.
In addition, other lure configurations include hooks carried within the lure itself. U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,656, issued on May 9, 1989 to Masaaki Ohnishi, discloses a lure plug in which the hook of the lure is not deployed until a fish bites down onto the lure. The hook within Ohnishi's lure is disposed within a slot that passes through the entire lure, top to bottom. In one embodiment, FIGS. 11(a) and 11(b), the hook is pivotally secured within a slot of the lure such that a rounded portion of the hook protrudes from the lure and is held in such a position by a tubular biasing member biasing. When a fish bites down onto the lure, the barb portion of the lure is then forced from the lure, into the mouth of the fish. U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,167, issued on May 17, 1988 to George Steele, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,023, issued on Jul. 18, 1989 to Francis E. Ryder et al., disclose lures that retain their hooks on the exterior, but in close proximity to the body of the lure, so that the hooks will not become entangled or snagged on underwater vegetation and objects. Lastly, Great Britain Patent No. 337,479, issued on Nov. 27, 1930 to Frank McLaughlin, discloses a lure having a hook retained thereagainst to prevent the inadvertent snagging thereof. McLaughlin's hook is released from the lure due to the wobbling of the lure.
Although the above patented lures attempt to address the problem of snagging and losing fish lures, they do not disclose or suggest the construction of the present invention nor the advantages that are associated with using the same. These differences are more fully identified in the latter portions of this specification. Simply, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.